Skip Navigation


Annals of Oncology Advance Access originally published online on August 4, 2005
Annals of Oncology 2005 16(12):1981; doi:10.1093/annonc/mdi390
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
16/12/1981    most recent
mdi390v1
Right arrow E-letters: Submit a response
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when E-letters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Search for citing articles in:
ISI Web of Science (1)
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Disclaimer
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Yalcin, B.
Right arrow Articles by Demirkazik, A.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Yalcin, B.
Right arrow Articles by Demirkazik, A.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© 2005 European Society for Medical Oncology

Letter to the Editor

Interferon-alpha as maintenance therapy in patients with multiple myeloma

Schaar et al. [1Go] investigated the role of interferon-alpha (IFN) as maintenance therapy in patients with multiple myeloma. In the study, 46 out of 128 patients who reached a plateau phase after melphalan/prednisone therapy were enrolled into the IFN maintenanace treatment arm, whereas 44 patients were followed up without a maintenance treatment.

There was no statistically significant difference in overall survival between the two groups. IFN was withdrawn in 37% of patients (n = 17/46) due to toxicity. Compliance to IFN treatment was low, and the population of the trial consisted of relatively older patients (median age was 68 years).

In another meta-analysis, it has been shown that IFN maintenance therapy improved the progression-free survival in patients with multiple myeloma, but with no effect on overall survival. Also, if disease progressed under IFN treatment, subsequent survival was slightly worse in this group of patients. Unfortunately, this meta-analysis did not include toxicity or the assessment of quality of life [2Go]. Therefore, we believe that IFN maintenance therapy can not be recommended in elderly patients with multiple myeloma because of its poor tolerability.

B. Yalcin*, M. Dogan, A. Buyukcelik, H. Doruk, I. Tek and A. Demirkazik

Department of Medical Oncology, Ankara University School of Medicine Sihhiye, Ankara 06100, Turkey

* E-mail: bulyalcin{at}yahoo.com

References

1. Schaar CG, Kluin-Nelemans HC, Marvelle C et al. Interferon-alpha as maintenance therapy in patients with multiple myeloma. Ann Oncol 2005; 16: 634–639.[Abstract/Free Full Text]

2. The Myeloma Trialists' Collaborative Group Secretariat based at Imperial Cancer Research Fund/Medical Research Council Clinical Trial Service Unit. Interferon as therapy for multiple myeloma: an individual patient data overview of 24 randomized trials and 4012 patients. Br J Haematol 2001; 113: 1020–1034.[CrossRef][ISI][Medline]


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?



This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
16/12/1981    most recent
mdi390v1
Right arrow E-letters: Submit a response
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when E-letters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Search for citing articles in:
ISI Web of Science (1)
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Disclaimer
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Yalcin, B.
Right arrow Articles by Demirkazik, A.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Yalcin, B.
Right arrow Articles by Demirkazik, A.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?